July 11, 2003

Total Cred

Ralph Wiley is, in my opinion, one of the best sports "feature" writers of our time. He was at the LeBron coming out party in Orlando this past week, and obviously came away impressed. Here's a brief excerpt:

The moves, the quickness. That's the key. No, a key. He has several. The strength. The awareness. If he can't get you one way, he'll get you another. It is astounding to see an 18-year-old look like not just a man, be physically outfitted like a man, and not just a man, but as a man among men. Total body control, then to add a grasp of the game that goes far beyond the heads of men 10 years older? It is true, he needs to work on his handle, his D, his shot, especially the deep shot, the 3-ball, but the point is, all that is already there to be improved upon. It's not like he doesn't have it, and in NBA All-Star starter proportion. Yes, there will be games when he goes 2-for-9 and scores nine and gets busted by somebody like Stef or J-Kidd. But then, there won't be that many of those nights, and there aren't that many of those guys, and what few there are, they'll be gone in a few years, and he'll have grown by then anyway, and ... but there are many crowd affirmations, shout-outs, passes, turnovers and fly-by dunks to go, between now and then.

Forget the destination. It's the journey.

Read it all. This guy's good. Wiley, I mean.

Posted by dan at July 11, 2003 2:48 PM